Joao Winckler

Welcome Anne, good to see someone from the Cascadia region. Foraging and backyard chickens growing up sounds like a solid foundation for all this. What does your vegetable garden look like now, mostly annual veg or are you getting into perennials?

Chickweed is one I only started eating a few years back, went from pulling it out as a weed to actually leaving patches of it. Just eat it raw, nice in salads while it lasts. Feels a bit ridiculous that I was removing it all those years.

Ha, always a nice surprise when something fruits without any effort on your part. I had a quince do similar a couple years back, convinced it was never going to amount to anything and then just covered in fruit one autumn. Rubbish summers sometimes seem to push them into it, like the stress tips them over the edge.

Haven't grown it but been meaning to. The asparagus-like shoots in April is the bit that appeals most, that's such a gap month in the veg garden, nothing worth harvesting and you're sick of stored stuff. Worth growing just for that window.

That's a rough year. Hard to compete with bears when they're that determined. Any chance you can get to the rose hips before they circle back? I'd have thought those ripen later so might still be worth a trip out if there's any left on the bushes.

Honestly 3 bushes probably isn't enough to get a real feel for them. Mine didn't really kick in until they had a proper run along a fence and could do their thing. If you've got good wild ones accessible nearby I'd be tempted to give the space to something more reliable.

Ha, I've kind of made peace with it honestly. Eat them in small amounts, cook them low and slow, and accept there are consequences. The variety angle is interesting though, hadn't thought about sourcing different cultivars. Might be worth trying something different next year and seeing if there's actually a noticeable difference.

Yeah the wind rose check is the one I'd prioritise before committing to placement. Prevailing wind and worst gale direction often aren't the same, and getting that wrong can make it actively worse. Nancy's point about building up in stages with pioneers first seems like the most reliable approach even if it adds years to the timeline.

The boiling idea is good. I've done similar with blight-hit tops before burning them, just to be sure nothing survives into the compost. For the slug-damaged ones, anything that's only partially hit is fine to eat fresh, and floury varieties mash well even if they look a bit rough. The ones with hollow heart I'd just chuck rather than trying to store them, they tend to go off faster.

Joseph's note about the bland flavor is interesting. Always assumed squash being bland was a preparation problem, but if it's genuinely the variety there's not much cooking around that. Does anyone find the flavor changes much with storage time, like some winter squash get sweeter after a few months?